In the first episode of The perfect coupleEvent planner Roger Felton speaks to the police after a guest at a party thrown by his employers – world-famous author Greer Winbury (Nicole Kidman) and her husband Tag (Liev Schreiber) – is found dead. “Oh, they’re rich,” grins Roger of the Winburys. “‘Child sex ring on a private island’ rich. ‘I’m bored. Let’s buy a monkey’ rich. ‘Kill someone and get away with it’ rich.”

In case it wasn’t clear from the venomous lines – delivered with his unmistakable verve by comedic character actor Tim Bagley, who plays Roger – The perfect couple (premieres September 5 on Netflix) delights in lampooning its super-rich protagonists. Based on Elin Hilderbrand’s bestseller and adapted for the screen by Jenna Lamia (Good girls), this cheeky and sometimes offbeat miniseries offers the cheap and delicious thrills of a beach read with the lavish budget of a prestige streamer.

It is the week of the 4th of July and a crowd of East Coast society has gathered at Summerland – Greer and Tag’s $40 million estate on Nantucket – for the wedding of Benji Winbury (Billy Howle), the wealthy scion, and Amelia Sacks (Evil Sisters‘ Eve Hewson), a decidedly bourgeois zookeeper. Although Greer would never allow her family — including her obnoxious eldest, Tom (Jack Reynor), her snooty daughter-in-law, Abby (Dakota Fanning), and her sensitive youngest child, Will (Sam Nivola) — to be less welcoming to her, the Winburys have an unspoken understanding that Amelia is and always will be an outsider. (“At least my wife matches the damn wallpaper,” Tom sneers.) Amelia’s only real ally, other than Benji, of course, is her best friend and maid of honor, Merritt Monaco (Meghann Fahy), a stylish and carefree influencer.

Much to Greer’s chagrin, the season’s social event turns into a scandal when a body is found in the water on the morning of Benji and Amelia’s wedding. The millionaire matriarch is forced to close ranks when Nantucket Police Chief Dan Carter (Michael Beach) and Detective Nikki Henry (Donna Lynne Champlin) infiltrate the compound to investigate the death. Then the “everyone’s a suspect” game begins, with a handful of Winbury observers brought to the police station to answer questions/provide tidbits of backstory about the family and their acquaintances as the mystery unfolds. “He makes his own bed like a pathetic person,” sniffs Gosia (Irina Dubova), the Winburys’ devoted housekeeper, of Benji’s best man, Shooter Dival (Ishaan Khattar). Isabel (Isabelle Adjani), a French bombshell and long-time family friend, remarks, “Greer, she’s got a, how should I say… a broom? Er, no, a stick up her ass… hole.”

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The perfect couple relies heavily on this absurd TV cliché – characters who are so relaxed during interrogation by the police that they pepper their answers with jokes and coy remarks – but the show insists that we don’t take them or their characters very seriously. Lamia and her writers (which include Bridgerton, pretty Little LiarsAnd Unpleasant) have opted for a more sophisticated approach to Hilderbrand’s original story, one that favors dark, capricious comedy over straightforward mystery thrills. (The series was originally developed at Fox, the last network to value the dying art of the primetime soap opera.) ((RIP monarchyou wonderful mess.))

Lamia and director Susanne Bier (The downfall) know we love watching the one percent flounder, and Bier puts her characters under a microscope with repeated extreme close-ups—zooming in on their tortured eyes, their duplicitous mouths—as if she were trying to use her camera to destroy their polished facades. What Greer fears most, of course, is a scene—and Dream couple makes her endure more than one, for our amusement. During a very awkward family dinner, the conversation around Doritos turns to the mysterious disappearance of Will’s former French teacher. When the ingratiating Abby tries to smooth things over by making a comment about the wine, Greer freaks out. “It really doesn’t matter,” she barks, silencing her daughter-in-law with a dismissive wave of her hand.

It’s one of many moments where Kidman, as Greer, allows herself to be unlikable, something the Oscar winner rarely does. In her past TV roles, Kidman has been tormented, hurt, angry, sure – but just mean? Never. It’s fun to see her embrace Greer’s underlying malice, which of course stems from a deep, dark secret that not even her family knows. Fanning has a blast as the snooty and condescending Abby, wrapping all her insults in a sing-song tone and a cheery smile. Reynor provides tragicomic relief as Benji’s bullying, insecure brother Tom, and Champlin hits just the right note of unflinching amusement as Detective Henry.

Unfortunately, there’s not much to Tag Winbury, whose main character traits are smoking a lot of weed and singing pop songs at inappropriate times. Hewson and Bowle are appealing actors, but their characters are similarly under-played and suffer from a noticeable lack of chemistry. We never really learn why Amelia – who supposedly has no interest in Benji’s money – wants to marry him in the first place. But in the end, maybe Greer Winbury is right and it really doesn’t matter. Benji, Amelia, Tag – they’re all just a catalyst for the real entertainment: watching the rich eat their own people. Grade: B

All six episodes of The perfect couple Premieres Thursday, September 5, on Netflix.